Syrian army commanders praise role of Russia in fight against terrorism

March 15 2016

TASS

Russian Aerospace Defense Forces "have played and continue to play a noble role in the fight against terrorism," the Syrian Armed Forces’ commanders said in a statement distributed by SANA news agency on Tuesday.

The statement noted that the agreement between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Syrian counterpart Bashar Assad on withdrawing Russian forces from Syria "is in line with latest developments on the front where the Syrian army, in coordination with Russian aviation, achieved great successes in the war against terrorist groups."

"As a result, Syrian Armed Forces regained military initiative which led to expansion of the process of local ceasefires, end of military operation on several fronts and flight of many terrorists from the country."

The Syrian Armed Forces confirmed that military actions against Islamic State (IS) and Jebhat al-Nusra terrorist organizations will continue "with determination and persistence." The military operations against terrorists "will continue in partnership and coordination with friends and allies until terrorists are defeated and stability and security is restored in all corners of the homeland," the statement added.

The Kremlin press service released a statement on Monday evening that the Russian and Syrian presidents, Vladimir Putin and Bashar Assad, agreed to start withdrawing the main part of the Russian aviation task force from Syria because the Russian Aerospace Forces had fulfilled the fundamental tasks which had been assigned to them. Russia will leave an air flight control center in the Syrian territory that will monitor the observation of the Syrian ceasefire, the Kremlin said. Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu ordered starting the Russian troops’ withdrawal as of March 15.